What is a ‘love contract’?

On behalf of Amy Geistweidt of Higdon, Hardy & Zuflacht, L.L.P. posted in prenuptial agreements on Tuesday, August 25, 2015.

One of the benefits of contracts is that they can create predictability in otherwise unpredictable situations. One thing that can have the potential to have a fair amount of unpredictability connected to it is what will happen in regards to financial issues, like division of property, if a married couple breaks up. Thus, it is unsurprising that some couples, when they are about to tie the knot, turn to contracts to address what will happen finance-wise if their soon-to-begin marriage ultimately ends in divorce.

Such contracts are called prenuptial agreements. There are a wide range of different financial issues prenuptial agreements can contain legally binding terms on. Thus, soon-to-be married couples can use prenuptial agreements to create predictability for many potential future divorce-related financial issues. Attorneys can help individuals who are about to get married who are interested in having a prenuptial agreement understand whether such an agreement would be well-suited for addressing financial concerns they have about potential future divorce matters and with drafting prenuptial agreements tailored to their specific concerns and circumstances.

Some couples don’t just want to use contracts to create greater predictability in the event of the breakdown of a marriage, but also to create greater predictability within a relationship. One thing that some couples are turning to to try to create such greater relationship predictability are “love contracts.”

A love contract is an agreement that contains lifestyle clauses that a couple agrees to follow in connection to their relationship. Such lifestyle clauses could regard all sorts of different things, from social media use to spending time together.

Some couples include love contracts within prenuptial agreements or other relationship agreements. Love contracts appear to be rising in popularity these days.

What might draw a couple to think about having a love contract? Perhaps they desire to set out clear expectations regarding their relationship to try to prevent unpleasant surprises. Some argue that love contracts can be very useful when it comes to goal-setting in a relationship.

An important thing to note about love contracts is that they often are deemed legally unenforceable.

Some argue that including love contracts in a prenuptial agreement could create problems, such as causing an agreement to become bogged down with terms or potentially endangering the enforceability of the entire agreement.

What do you think of love contracts? Do you think they can be a helpful tool for couples?